Kaiser Hwang
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Brain Injury Researchers Watch YouTube Videos for Trauma Research
YouTube's vast repository of videos offers video of just about anything imaginable -- from rare concert footage to gadget reviews. But, according to a report from the University of Kentucky posted on LabSpaces, brain injury researchers are using the site for something more noble: head trauma research. Best of all, they've actually made some concrete findings that could help coaches make safer decisions for their injured players.
The findings revolve around what Jonathon Lifshitz, assistant professor at the University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, calls the "fencing response." After watching hundreds of hours of YouTube videos showcasing various head impacts, Lifshitz and his team noticed that, after a player suffered a severe blow to the head, his forearm would involuntary assume an "en garde" fencing position -- sometimes before he even hit the ground. (One of the videos watched is shown above.) Believe it or not, this behavior was noticed in rats as well.
Such a physical response indicates trauma to a part of the brainstem that controls balance. If left untreated, such an injury can lead to permanent brain damage and death. Internal damage is hard to assess by simply looking at a person, so if a player displays the fencing response after an impact, a coach should have her treated immediately instead of sending her back onto the field. Score one for YouTube! [From: U.K./LabSpaces]
Nielsen: More Americans Watching TV While Surfing the Net
As the Internet has become more accessible and essential to our lives, it's natural that we find ourselves online more than ever -- even when we're watching television. According to a new quarterly report (PDF link) by Nielsen, 57-percent of Americans watch television while surfing the Net at least once a month. (We'll admit, we do this on a daily basis.)
The report also contains some other interesting trends and numbers. One of our favorites notes that 28-percent of respondent's Internet time is spent simultaneously watching TV, while only 3-percent of their TV time is spent simultaneously surfing the Web. Did you get that?
What's most interesting is that the time spent watching videos on any platform (Internet, television, mobile devices) has gone up. Rather than killing traditional television, it seems online videos are actually complementing it. [From: Nielsen (PDF link), via Ars Technica]
Virtual Gnome Police Crack Down on Spammer Hucksters in 'EverQuest'
When playing massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, the typical player must spend tens, if not hundreds, of hours fully developing his character, earning a significant amount of in-game currency, and obtaining powerful, rare items and weapons. This often lengthy grind has encouraged some players to buy virtual items and characters from others, via real money transactions -- an act that is explicitly banned in almost all MMO end-user license agreements. Making matters worse for both players and publishers, these virtual salesmen spam other players so much that it sometimes discourages honest gamers from playing, thus depriving publishers of a game's requisite monthly fees.
To help combat this illegal spamming, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), a game publisher that runs such MMOs as 'EverQuest' and 'Star Wars Galaxies,' has formed the Norathian Underground Gnome Investigation Team. (Norath is the name of the fictional universe in which 'EverQuest' takes place.) According to Reuters, this nine-member group roams the various virtual worlds, finds spammers and their associates, and permanently bans their online accounts.
The team has already closed nearly 300,000 accounts since its founding, though many challenges still remain. Brad Wilcox, director of customer support at SOE, had this to say about the spammers: "A lot of them are offshore. It's very difficult to stop somebody that's in another country, particularly one where the laws aren't friendly to the United States and it can be very challenging." [From: Reuters]
Apple's List of Software Incompatible With Snow Leopard
While it's impossible for Apple to test every application and hardware device with its OS, the company has posted a list of software that it knows to be incompatible with the 10.6 update. The big names include Parallels Desktop and Norton AntiVirus, though even Apple's own Airport Admin Utility for Graphite and Snow makes the list.
If you're thinking about jumping on the Snow Leopard bandwagon, we suggest you check the official sites for any critical software you use before doing so to look for any potential issues. It might also be helpful to check various Apple forums for user-generated lists of incompatible software, like this one from popular Apple site MacRumors. [From: TUAW]
Is Wikipedia Too Big for Its Own Good?
In a blog post for the New York Times, writer Noam Cohen reflects on the challenges that Wikipedia faces in the coming years, as brought up at last week's Wikimania conference in Buenos Aires. One of the major points of discussion was the incredible growth the site had, and why it's currently slowing down. One of the theories offered suggests that most general topics have entries now, and future growth will be more dependent on "specialized articles, maintenance and news, both events and ideas and products."
Perhaps the greatest issue of all, though, is the very concept of the site itself: an encyclopedia that anyone can edit. As the site has grown over the years, pages have become more difficult to edit due to complex layouts, and "bots" that make edits on a mass scale. Page vandalism has also become a problem, and there is rising controversy on how to manage and maintain quality page edits.
The bigger Wikipedia becomes, the more potential it has to become an invaluable part of our lives -- but at what price? Does the site abandon it's very own motto of democratic and open contributions? Should they open the floodgates and hope we, the public, can sort it all out? Tell us what you think in the comments below! [From: The New York Times]
The Olympus E-P1 Is Sexy, But Is It Worth the Hype?
What it is: The Olympus PEN E-P1 is the company's first Micro Four Thirds (MFT) camera -- a miniaturized alternative to a digital SLR (DSLR) based on a tech standard developed in cooperation with Panasonic. The physical design and name are throwbacks to the half-frame film cameras Olympus produced from the '50s through the '80s. The E-P1, priced at $799, includes a 14-42-millimeter, f3.5-5.6 ...Mother of Autistic U.K. Hacker Calls on Obama for Help
Forty-three-year-old Londoner Gary McKinnon is facing extradition to the U.S. (as well as up to 60 years in a U.S. prison) if convicted of hacking into government computers, reports the BBC. He also has Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism disorder. After numerous failed attempts to have her son tried in the U.K., McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp (pictured) is pleading directly to President Obama ...Cell Phones Boost Saucy Manga Comics Sales in Japan (Among Women)
digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2009/08/03/cell-phones-boost-saucy-manga-comics-sales-in-japan-among-women/';
The manga (Japanese comics) industry in Japan has been in steady decline for the past decade, but it seems an unlikely savior has finally arrived: the cell phone. The New York Times is reporting that direct-to-cell sales of manga have jumped up 43-percent from last year -- a ...No Wi-Fi on Your Phone? New MicroSD Card Changes That in a Flash
Believe it or not, there are a number of data-equipped cell phones that lack integrated Wi-Fi (like the new BlackBerry Tour). If you own one of these phones and it has a microSD slot, you may now be able to retroactively add Wi-Fi to it, thanks to a new card developed by KDDI Corp. Similar to wireless network-accessing camera memory cards, these cards can instantly (and hopefully cheaply) add ...Use a Custom Gmail Setup to Get Things Done
If your Gmail inbox is turning into a ginormous vat of unanswered e-mails and confusing labels, Lifehacker has a good template you can use to get your to-do list back on track. Their method involves a clever mix of a couple Google Labs features, some informative labels, and even optional search bookmarklets for quick access to various e-mails. If you follow every step they have listed, your inbox ...
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